The Runes protocol has once again exploded the Bitcoin network: activity has reached a two-year peak.
The Bitcoin network is experiencing a real surge in activity, which has not been seen for almost two years. According to my on-chain data analysis, on June 23, the daily number of transactions in the blockchain of the first cryptocurrency exceeded 820,000. This is the highest figure since April 2024.
Notably, this explosion of activity is occurring against the backdrop of a prolonged bearish sentiment in the market. At the time of writing this analysis, BTC is trading around $62,000, which is approximately 50% below its all-time high. However, it is the Runes protocol that has become the main catalyst for this boom.
Transactions related to Runes protocol messages exceeded 600,000 per day. This is a colossal load on the network. The share of fees generated by these operations has reached an impressive ~25% of the total fees in the blockchain. For comparison, just a few weeks ago this figure was significantly lower.
What does this mean for the market? Runes continues to attract speculative capital and users, despite the cooling of the overall market. This indicates that niche protocols and second-layer meta-protocols are capable of creating their own economic activity, independent of the price of the underlying asset.
My comment: The growth in the number of transactions and fees from Runes amid the decline of BTC is a clear signal of divergence. The market for memes and tokens on Bitcoin is alive, and it is pulling liquidity that traditionally went to Ethereum and Solana. However, it is worth remembering that such surges are often short-term in nature and can end with a sharp decline in activity as soon as interest in new emissions dries up.